


Catch Me If You Can

by pyxy_styx



Series: Ereri Week 2015 [3]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Criminal!Eren, Detective!Levi, Ereri Week, Ereri Week 2015, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Sorry, M/M, Male Hange Zoë, No Fluff, No Sex, No Smut, One Shot, Riren Week, Short One Shot, Sorry Not Sorry, Superpowers, What Have I Done
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-04
Updated: 2016-04-25
Packaged: 2018-03-31 08:55:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3971788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyxy_styx/pseuds/pyxy_styx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren needs Levi's help, but with him being a criminal will Levi be willing to listen?</p><p>[On temporary hiatus]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Day 3 of Ereri week, Catch Me If You Can/ Caught In The Act. I will most likely add more chapters to this one later, but for right now it will stay a one-shot.

I was quickly tiring, my legs are sore, but I needed them to take me farther, faster. My chest heaving from the exertion of having to sprint for almost two miles, I could see my breath puffing out on this cold winter night. My arms held in front of me but lowered, my right hand clutching my pistol as my left stabilized my right, the fingers of both of my hands slightly numb from the freezing temperature.

He was teasing me, taunting me knowing fully that there was nothing I could do to stop him. However I pushed those thoughts aside seeing as how they were unhelpful and kept my eye on the prize: Velocity. And just as I had the thought, he turned, not slowing down even a little to say, “Catch me if you can.” Then he was gone.

“Dammit!” I shouted, slowing my sprint down to a run and then jog before stopping completely, trying desperately to get some of the elusive oxygen into my lungs.

“Aww, don’t be mad Corporal.” A mocking voice called from behind me.

“Why are you still here?” I spat out as I spun to face the notorious criminal, shoving aside my fatigue.

“I heard you yell, I thought that maybe you had tripped and fallen.” He said, his voice going up an octave as he spoke, a smile playing at his lips.

“Don’t patronize me, Velocity. Why are you really here? And where are the jewels?” I asked crossing my arms and leaning up against the wall of the alley we were currently standing in. His smile fell and he stepped closer, I raised my gun some and he stopped.

“I need your help.” He bowed his head after his little revelation, and me, well I was stunned, the aforementioned gems temporarily forgotten.

“With what? And why on earth would I help you? Especially when I’m trying to put you in prison. Or better yet why would you come to me when you know I’m trying to put in a cell for the rest of your miserable days?”

“Your whole office is corrupt. They don’t want to catch me so they can put me in prison. I came to you because I know for a fact that you’re really one of the ‘good guys’.” He air quoted good guys, as if the very thought of such a thing were something that only existed in stories told late at night around a smoldering campfire, I almost scoffed at him.

“If they don’t want you in prison, then what do they want with you?” I didn’t plan on helping him mainly because I didn’t believe a word he was saying, but it wouldn’t hurt to listen to what he had to say, it would buy me enough time to figure out how to call for back up or get him myself.

A look of anguish crossed his face and I almost felt bad, almost. “What do you know of my history? Or better yet what did they teach you, so I can either confirm or deny what they said.”

“Not much. Just that you use your ‘ability’ to rob banks, and other places where things of value are kept. You’ve never been caught, and if we did ever manage to stumble across you that you weren’t to be harmed. They want you alive and without a scratch on you.”

He tilted his head to the side, his hair falling into his mask that completely covered his eyes, I wasn’t sure how he could see through the fabric but it was the least of all my concerns at the moment. “And you don’t think that’s weird?”

“That what is weird?” I asked, already tired of this conversation.

“Well I would think that with most ‘criminals’, that as long as you brought them in it was fine, regardless of their physical state of being as long as they weren’t dead or close to it. But you say that they want me unharmed at all cost. And how would you bring me in if I was not in some way, shape, or form injured? Not that any of you could ever lay a finger on me but still.” And I couldn’t deny a word he had said, because it was most definitely true, though I couldn’t decipher why that mattered. So the higher ups wanted a dangerous criminal unscathed, what was the big deal? But the question did call for some pondering, later though, when I could give it my full attention.

“So say I actually believed you, what makes you so special?” Eren's face darkened again.

“Special? No, I think you mean what makes me such a freak, because as it were there are plenty of others out there with powers as well, so why would I be any different? See my powers aren’t genetic, I wasn’t born with them. They were forced upon me through methods that make what Josep Mengele did seem like child’s play.” He spat out bitterly. “But here, let me enlighten you. My father was a brilliant doctor and scientist, one the best the military has ever had. He was amazing, when he was at work at least, but when he was home he became the mad scientist that I knew him to be. He had this kind of Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde thing going on, only he didn’t turn into a monster, not physically anyway. After my mother passed, he turned all his frustration and anger on me, an innocent eleven year old boy whose voice still cracked whenever he spoke.” I listened intently to the words pouring out of his mouth, it didn’t seem like he was lying. This was too elaborate to be thought of on the spot, but maybe he had planned this little speech beforehand?

“He started experimenting on me in the basement of our large house. I’m not exactly sure what it was he was injecting me with but it burned like hellfire. Slowly, over the course of many years, I started to change. It was gradual and then all at once, kind of like falling, and I couldn’t control them, and one night when I was fourteen, I lost what little control I did have. My father was being particularly brutal, I don’t remember exactly what it was he had done not that it really matters anymore, and something in me snapped. I threw my father, if that’s what you want to call him, through a few walls, though I never even had to touch him. I ripped everything apart molecule by molecule. It was exhilarating, as well as liberating. When there was nothing left of the house that held years of pain and torment, I turned my fury on him. Slowly I… I pulled him apart piece by piece, very small piece by piece. It took me hours before I was satisfied with what I had done to him and I finally let him die. And then after the adrenaline wore off and I looked around at all the damage I had done I broke down, not at all safe when you’ve got at least ten different powers you can’t control. My mind which used to be my safe haven had now turned against me and I didn’t know what to do.”

“The neighbors had called the police and when they arrived… well they fared better than my father, but not by much. I left them all barely alive, but alive nonetheless. I was on the run after that, the police were never going to listen to what I had to say after that. No one to go to, no one to turn to for help, it was me, myself, and I. My first few months on the streets were hell, I had no idea what I was doing, and apparently I screamed target to everyone else. No one bothered me after the first few who thought they could take advantage of some poor, defenseless teenager. They all learned soon enough that I was not to be taken lightly. I ended up killing all of them on accident, after all I still had no control at that point, but it was enough for people to back off and leave me alone.”

“I decided that I would pick one of my new found powers and stick with it, only using any of the others if I absolutely needed to, though I did learn how to control all of them eventually. I would make myself more of a target if I was using all of them. I chose speed, if you can’t catch me there’s no issue, if I’m moving so fast you can’t see me then there’s no problem. And thus, Velocity was born. But my real name,” he paused taking a deep breath and removed his mask to reveal his gorgeous eyes, they were a sea green color, also maybe a sea blue, but I think they might be turquoise or even a viridian, I couldn’t distinguish the color in this lighting and there were so many shimmering colors in his eyes I doubted that even in better lighting and an eternity you wouldn’t be able to list all the colors, “My real name is Eren, Eren Jaeger. It’s nice to officially meet you.” I was speechless, any thought that he was a liar trying to pull me off guard was gone. I felt bad for him, though i doubt he needs my pity or sympathy.

“So why do you need my help again?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

“Whatever my father did to make me this way is still in my blood. Commander Smith, your commander, wants it. He has almost every person in your unit after me. I know for a fact that you’re not like them, like him. I figured that if anyone would be willing to listen, to hear me out without giving me away or trying to capture me first was you, or Hanji. Maybe even the police chief Pixis, but I wanted to see if you would give me a chance first.” I felt a brief flash of guilt because that was exactly what I was planning to do at first. I debated with myself on what to do now though. Taking a deep breath I stepped forward.

“Levi Ackerman. It’s nice to meet you as well Eren.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look I finally got around to updating this yaaay. Anyway thank you for being patient, this was supposed to be posted almost two weeks ago but I just could not finish it.  
> Also I dare you to find the obscure reference I made. Brownie points to whoever finds it.

It had been several months since that night. I had kept my ear to the ground, but nothing, I had heard absolutely nothing about Eren, not from other criminals, not from the police, no one. It was unsettling, not that I should even be concerned, he isn’t my problem. He may have asked me for help but you don’t disappear and then expect someone to help you after, not that he had asked for help again seeing as how he had disappeared off the face of the earth. I was tempted to consult Hanji several times but he doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut, Eren said he wasn’t on Erwin’s pay roll but how certain could I be that he was right, or that that hadn’t changed while he was gone.

I shook my head, annoyed at myself for even being worried about him. He was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. That and I had a shit ton of paperwork that I had to get through before I could finally go home and letting my thoughts wander to a certain bright eyed brat most definitely was not helping.

“Levi!” Hanji bellowed, approaching me with another steaming cup of shitty coffee that tasted more like sludge than a drink.

“Shitty glasses, why must you shout everything at the top of your fucking lungs? Are you incapable of being a normal human being for even the shortest amount of time?” I groaned out, pressing my fingers into my temples in the hope that it either alleviates some of the pain or maybe if I press hard enough I’ll crack my skull open and put myself out of my own misery.

“Of course I can, but that’s only when mortals are around.” He commented in that cryptic way that only he could manage.

“Mortals? Then what the fuck am I?” he shrugged as if that was all the answer one would need as he collapsed into his chair.

“So are you almost done with that stack of papers so I can leave or what?”

“Give me half an hour and then we can both head out.” I waved my hand in a dismissive gesture. I spent the next half hour powering through reports and other documents, but it was half an hour just as promised.

“Thank God, I’m so ready for sleep. I hate having a partner as dedicated as you, but don’t worry, your shitty personality and constant hostility towards me are all the love I need to forgive you for it.” Hanji remarked as we left the station walking to our cars, he had draped an arm over my shoulder as he spoke and I could feel my left eye twitch.

“Get the fuck off of me before I cut your arm off.” I grit out through clenched teeth that ached from the amount of pressure I was applying to my jaw.

“See! I can practically feel the love in the air.”

“They got a pill for what’s wrong with you?” I deadpanned.

“I don’t know. Probably? Why?” he asked.

“Because I might try and find it and slip it into your coffee. Speaking of coffee drinking seven cups a day isn’t healthy.”

“Says you! Mr. I-drink-eight-cups-of-coffee-a-day-but-still-have-this-big-ass-stick-shoved-up-my-ass, I don’t want to hear anything from you.” He shouted merrily.

“First of all, I never said I was healthy in my coffee consumption and I certainly did not instruct you to follow my lead on anything, secondly, you are hyped up enough as is without coffee, with it you turn into the squirrel from Hoodwinked. So _seven_ cups of coffee turns you into a fucking colony of squirrels. That shit is annoying as fuck when you’re busy trying to get actual work done.”

“I’m feeling very attacked right now.” he said solemnly.

“No you’re not, trust me, you’ll know when I’m attacking you.” He opened his mouth to say something else, but I cut him off, “Well this is mine and I don’t say good-bye so instead I’ll say this. If you’re late on Monday I’ll fucking castrate you.” I unlocked the door of my black Ford Fusion climbing into the cabin before shutting the door and ramming my key into the ignition. I sped off towards my gated apartment complex.

 Pulling into my parking spot, I let out a relieved sigh. I turned off my vehicle, locked it then made my way into my complex. I shuffled up four flights of stairs. Even with my fatigue I was still quicker than the elevator ever would have been. Unlocking my apartment I stumbled inside, locking the door behind myself. Walking into the bathroom, I stood in front of the mirror dazedly staring at me reflection. I sighed, debating with myself on whether or not I want to forgo a shower tonight. I knew that I should take a shower, it was part of my nightly routine, but I was pretty much asleep on my feet at the moment. Fuck it, no shower tonight. I'll just have to take an extra-long one in the morning. Stripping out of my uniform, throwing it haphazardly onto my desk on the far wall of my room, I rummaged through my dresser pulling out a pair of black pajama bottoms, deciding to also forgo putting a shirt on I crawled into bed, falling asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

 

I was woken up by a crashing sound in my room. In one fluid motion, I had reached for the 9mm Glock under the other pillow on my bed, pulling it out and turned the light on my bed side table on. I was very unprepared for the sight that I was met with. 

It was Eren.

Eren was currently on his side, covered with blood, leaning quite heavily against my dresser. His breathing was rough and shallow, and it seemed that he would hyperventilate at any moment.

"Shit." I breathed out. I put my gun away, and stood. I approached Eren squatting down in front of him, I reached a hand out to brush some hair out of his face but he flinched away from me. I don’t actually think he was here, his body surely was, but god only knew where his mind was at this moment.

"Eren? Can you hear me?" He didn’t answer, I grabbed his shoulder and shook him slightly. In hindsight that was a very stupid thing for me to do, but I obviously wasn’t thinking about that when I had first touched him. Eren had snapped his eyes open, they weren’t focused, and they were glazed over, he opened his mouth to, I don’t know, scream maybe, but I couldn’t have him do that so I covered his mouth. As soon as my hand was secured over his face he brought his hand up to grab my wrist, he was using so much force that I could feel my bone straining in his grip. Then there was a feeling of weightlessness. Though I don’t remember him pushing me, surely if he had shoved me with enough force to send me airborne I would have felt the force of that like I did with my wrist. My heart was racing as adrenaline was pumped through my veins, my fighting instincts were in overdrive but I tried to reign it in, if I set Eren off I was dead. 

I don’t remember when I had closed my eyes, but since I didn’t feel any impact I opened them. I wish I hadn’t. I was suspended upside down in midair over my bed. I sucked in a quick breath as my stomach lurched. I was going to be a very unhappy camper if I threw up all over my bed. I tried moving enough to see Eren but I had very little leeway.

"Eren, put me down." I was trying to keep my sentences short and to the point. The less time I had my mouth open the better.

"Please Eren, I need you to snap out of it and put me down." and still no fucking answer. Patience had never been one of my strong points, but I figured if I did something to provoke him further I wasn’t going to live through it. But fuck I was tired, and sore, and I was going to puke any second now so fuck being delicate.

"EREN!" I heard him suck in a deep breath but I didn’t have time to worry about what he was doing because the next thing I knew I was falling face first onto my bed. I landed, knocking all the air out of my lungs, as my bed groaned with the force of my weight falling onto it like that. I slowly raised my head to glare at Eren, not that he was paying any attention to me.

I got up and very slowly tiptoed my way over to him. I sat down in front of him maybe a foot away to see him shivering. His once tanned skin looking unhealthily pale.

“L- Levi, I’m not, they won’t,” he paused to break into a fit of coughing and shuddering, “m-my wounds, they aren’t healing. I-I can’t, I don’t know what to do.” And never have I been so glad that before becoming a police officer I had been a nurse. A nurse with terrible bed side manners and was fired within a year, but at least I knew how to properly clean and bandages wounds. I stood and briskly walked over to my closet, opening it and pulling out the large first aid kit that sat at the bottom in the corner to the left. Rushing back to him I went to pick him up to take him to the bathroom but thought better of it.

“Eren? Can you walk or do I have to carry you to the bathroom?” my voice was steady, but I was just a little… concerned. If he couldn’t walk th-

I jerked back as he disappeared, he didn’t run, or anything. He was there one second and gone in the next. I patted the spot in front of me. Completely empty.  There were blood splotches all over the place so I wasn’t hallucinating.

“What the fuck?” I got up when I heard him in my bathroom. When I entered I saw him collapsed over the side of the tub trying to push himself up and probably off his injuries. “This is why I ask if you needed help dumbass.” I muttered under my breath.

“I thought I could make it on my own.” He wheezed out. I was slightly startled that he had heard me, _superpowers… right._

“This is going to be an unpleasant experience for the both of us, but you’re just going to have to bear with me alright?” a slight nod on his part. I nodded to myself in turn, making my way towards the disheveled figure.

Once done stripping Eren and washing off all the blood, I could clearly see the amount of damage that had been done and briefly wondered how the kid wasn’t dead. Briefly. He was riddled in bullet holes, covered in knifes wounds, and it also looked as if he had gone sledding over the pavement using his own body as the sled. I thoroughly cleaned each wound, applied a balm to them, then put gauze and bandage on them. I redressed him in some clothes that were too big for me, but the sweatpants were still a little too short for him. He had passed out by this point, so I had no choice but to carry him to my room and lay him on my bed. He was heavy and rather than drop him or hit any lanky part of his body on my way to the guest room it was easier just to let him stay in here.

I went into the guest room myself and flopped into the bed. I would talk to Eren in the morning when he was, hopefully, more lucid. I curled up, not even bothering to get under the blankets and was back asleep in an instant. Fuck tomorrow was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hint: it's not from Hoodwinked. Also, happy fourth of July everyone!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look! It's a bird, it's a plane, no it's my long over due chapter update! Yay! Please go read, I hope you like it.

When I woke up I was exceedingly warm. I went to toss the blanket off that I don’t remember even getting under, but couldn’t. I opened my eyes only to be met with the sight of a clothed chest and collarbones. To say I was shocked might have been an understatement.

“What the fuck?” I looked up, startled to see Eren’s sleeping face. When did he get out of bed? _How_ did he get out of bed? I turned in his grip since it was apparent he wasn’t letting me go, but then realized I was in _my_ room. So when did I get up? Once I’m asleep I don’t move, I just don’t, so how did I get into my bed, curled up in Eren’s arms? This is too much for my sleep addled mind to handle, maybe if I just shut my eyes and go back to sleep, I’ll actually wake up after that, by myself, with no Eren in my bed, or my space of living in general. How did he even know where I lived? That was a scary thought so I dropped it in favor of trying to get out of his arms again, to no avail.

“Eren.” I said, nudging his shoulder as much as I was able. It didn’t work so I was forced to just call his name over and over again over the course of the next few minutes, occasionally thumping my forehead into his chest simply of out of boredom as the hopelessness of trying to wake him dawned on me. But I kept at it, because one, I was uncomfortable in this position and two, I really had to take a piss now. It hadn’t been this bad when I had first awoken, but not being able to move coupled with the fact that I had been awake for a good fifteen minutes now had my bladder very unhappy with me.

I almost wept with joy when Eren finally started to stir, not that I would ever cry and especially not over something as trivial as the fact I could now go to the bathroom, but I was at the very least relieved, just not in the way I really wanted to be.

“Get the fuck up, I have to pee you stupid, idioti-” I was cut off from what was about to be a rant when I suddenly found myself in my bathroom, my very bloody bathroom that looked like a crime scene, with a disgruntled brunet disappearing from where he had been previously been standing behind me. I gasped as I was thrown off balance by the sudden movement, so much so that I almost fell into my tub, but was somehow able to right myself again. I could already feel the headache forming as I thought about having to deal with Eren as soon as I was done in the bathroom. However, I finished my business and walked into my room anyway, to see a shirtless Eren checking over his wounds, which were more or less healed at this point.

“So if you would care to explain what the fuck happened last night that would be great.” I said as I approached my bed, no point in beating around the bush after all. Eren snapped his head up when I spoke, slightly cringing as I assume what was left of his injuries protested at the sudden movement, but who knows, it's just an assumption after all.

“Huh?” he tilted his head, almost like a puppy, and I let out a sigh that turned into a groan. Yep, there was the headache that I knew was coming.

“You ask me for help, disappear for more than six month, then show up out of the blue, not even on my doorstep, nope you showed up crashing into my room at some unholy hour of the very early morning covered in blood and… I would say half dead but I’m honestly not sure whether or not you can even be killed, considering that you should have been from your wounds. So start explaining before I give you a few more bullet holes simply out of frustration, since it apparently won’t kill you.” I crossed my arms over my chest, leaning against my blood covered dresser. God I was going to have to bleach everything, or maybe Eren could do it? I’ll be sure to force him to at least clean some of it up.

“I- I don’t…” he paused, shook his head as if to knock his thoughts into place, then started again, “I was at one of my many hide outs, out on the banks of Trost, by the water in one of the abandoned warehouses. I don’t even know how they found me, not that it matters I guess. Anyway, they ambushed me, at least fifty of them, all at once. Before I could even think about running they had opened fired, but the bullets were coated in something, some kind of toxin. When I was finally able to break free of the bullets, after literally running out of places to try and duck to gather my head, I instantly darted outside, only to my surprise, they had fucking land mines, but with as panicked as I was and as fast as I was going, didn’t even realize when I stepped too close. Blew me fifty feet away, I was barely hanging on at that point but I had a reprieve, most of them were still inside and the ones that were rushing towards me were still sixty maybe seventy feet away. I pushed myself up and made a run for it which didn’t work out as well as I would have hoped, I took a corner too fast and went skidding twenty feet down the pavement. But there was no one around, I could teleport at that point, so I did. To the first safe place I thought of, that just so happened to be here.”

“One, I’m really am surprised that you’re even in one piece, let alone alive to tell me any of this, but we’ll address that later. Two, who ambushed you, and why disappear right after coming to me for help?”

“I heard a rumor floating around that Smith was about to crack down even harder in his hunt, so I went down the rabbit hole. I tried contacting you, but it would appear that you don’t answer to numbers that you don’t recognize and you also can’t decipher messages in your morning paper either. The last time I tried to get a hold of you I was followed to one of my hide outs. I immediately teleported out of there as soon as they were out of sight and after I made sure there was just one person. Never went back to that one so I buckled down in the warehouse by the banks. I don’t know how they found me though. It’s possible that after they found my last one they discovered I like abandoned buildings, or maybe someone just happened to stumble across where I was and they reported me, I don’t know.”

“So… it was Smith that attacked you, I don't read the paper, and… wait how did you call me? I wouldn’t think you had a phone.” He scoffed at me, and I felt my headache go up as my irritation increased.

“Of course not, but I did live on the streets and with my speed what makes you think I couldn’t grab someone’s phone, _try_ to call you, delete the call when you don’t answer, then return the person’s phone without them even knowing it was gone? Give me some credit.”

I rubbed at my forehead, pinching the bridge of my nose instead when that didn’t relieve the ache and sighed, long and drawn out. “Because of course you were a petty criminal before moving up to a what? Should I call you a super villain?” I snorted rolling my eyes in the process.

“No, I was simply surviving, something I would think you would know about. Especially considering you had others to take care of as well, huh Levi?” I stiffened, my gaze hardening as I took in the person before me. Just how much did he know about my past?

“And how would even know about that?” I asked harshly. He rolled his eyes at me and I really considered having him eat of few of my bullets, but refrained from my homicidal tendencies, that would only be more of a mess to clean up later.

“Do you seriously think I would have approached you all those months ago if I wasn’t positive I could trust you? And what do you think would have a criminal trust you? You used to be one so think. If someone approached you when you were still on the streets, what would they have to say, or who would they have to be? Someone who could relate, someone you knew did the right thing, even if it went against the rules, for the right reasons. You’re that person. I may be brash, and those who have gotten close to me would describe as hot-headed and short-tempered, but I’m not stupid. I did my research on you, Hanji, and Pixis. I chose you first for a reason. I had a gut feeling that you would agree, so I went to you. And here we are.”

I mulled over what he said, as it were, he wasn’t wrong. However that was never me in the first place, I didn’t trust anyone, but if I had to go to anyone, or if anyone were to have come to me, then I suppose that what he said was right. But that could also be discussed later.

“Why didn’t you teleport after they started shooting? Why try and outrun bullets if you can just go somewhere else in the blink of an eye? On what planet does that make sense?”

“I already told you. Only you and like two other people know that I have more than one power, I’d like to keep it that way. The more people that know the more danger I put myself in. If I do something like use my heightened sense of hearing or add on a little extra strength no one can see that, but people will notice if someone is there and then suddenly not. It’s not like super speed, you can still see me move with that. I only teleport if I know for a fact that there won’t be anyone in the other location, which is why I never bothered to come here after I first spoke to you. I wasn’t sure that you were alone. I know Hanji just shows up whenever, and while I do want to approach him eventually, I don’t want to just yet.”

I nodded slowly. “Makes sense I guess. Can I ask another question?”

“You just did.” he chuckled, bringing a hand up to try and quiet the sound of his laughter, though it did nothing but further piss me off.

“You are about this far away from eating a few bullets you stupid brat.” I ground out, but I took a deep breath to try and calm myself. “Why, pray tell, did I wake up in your arms when I know I went to bed in my guest room?”

“Oh,” Eren looked sheepish, scratching absentmindedly at the back of his neck. “So on the few instances where I got seriously injured, I have this tendency to… I don’t know, reach out subconsciously, I guess, for comfort. But I was only ever injured a handful of times and all of those times I had my two friends around so it wasn’t an issue, we all slept together anyway, so cuddling, was never a big deal. My injuries also heal faster that way, though we could never figure out why.” He shrugged again.

“Whatever, just help me get this place clean. Thank your lucky stars that I had today off or I would be very late and very in trouble with Erwin.” I turned so I could leave the room and go to the hallway closet to get cleaning supplies, but I was pulled back to sit on the bed. My eyes widened as my feet left the ground and I was about to curse Eren out as soon as I was in the center of the bed, but then he started talking.

“I can clean it much quicker and more efficiently than your cleaning solutions ever would, especially the blood.” I was once again going to object but then I looked at what he was doing. All the blood in the carpet started coming up, same with the blood on the dresser. I leaned over to look into my bathroom and the same thing was happening in there, all the blood was up. Then it just kind of vanished, there one second then gone the next. The dent in the wall from where Eren had come crashing in was gone, the scratches along the wall from the dresser scraping against it were also gone, the only proof that Eren was even here last night was the fact that he was sitting beside me right now.

“Holy fuck, that was amazing. Where were you when Hanji puked all over my couch, that little power of yours would have come in handy.”

“I don’t know whether or not I should respond, and if I should what to say so instead I’ll just ignore that statement altogether.”

“That’s fine.” I paused, thinking of something else to say when my stomach spoke up. “What do you want for breakfast?” I turned to look at Eren, seeing his brows scrunch up before he just shrugged.

“How very helpful, thank for that marvelous input.” I snorted derisively.

“Your sarcasm is not appreciated.” He retorted. My eyes widened slightly, but I quickly shook the shock off.

“And neither is your sass, so I guess we’re equal.” I climbed off the bed, after that, moving into the kitchen to start on breakfast which consisted off scrambled eggs, toast, and juice. Eren ate as if he had never heard of table manners, but after living on the streets for however long I guess I couldn’t complain too much. We spent the rest of the day talking about him since he pretty much knew everything about me. He told me about his times on the street, he told me about his friends -though he never mentioned their names- , and he talked about his powers. He has a dozen if I counted correctly, there’s super speed, strength, and hearing which I already knew about as well as the teleportation, regeneration, and telekinesis. I didn’t know about the telepathy and to a further extent some mind control. Or what he calls chameleon being able to mimic others appearance after he touched them for short periods of times. He also has something he called innate combat which pretty much means he’s the best hand-to-hand fighter you’ll ever come across because he has this built in knowledge of almost every type of fighting style there is, as well as being able to emit some type of high frequency sound that's similar to a shock wave or something like that, subtle matter manipulation, and one other thing that refuses to tell me. He also filled me in on his weaknesses, all three of them which consisted of neurotoxins or venoms, being beheaded -though I’m quite positive that that’s a death sentence no matter who you are-, and some kind of rare metal that he came across in some South American country. He nearly died finding out all three of those.

By the time our discussion ended it was almost time for dinner and being as tired as I was I went for something easy, pasta. After eating I had Eren take a very long and thorough shower because there was no way he was getting into either of the beds being as dirty as he was. I took my own shower once he was done, scrubbing until my skin was red and raw. Once satisfied I stripped the sheets from my bed as Eren watched from the doorway.

“Will you stay here tomorrow or are you leaving?” I asked as I tucked the last corner for the fitted sheet.

“I don’t know. My safe houses aren’t really safe anymore. I think I’ll check your house and the surrounding area for things like phone taps or small recording devices, if it’s safe then I’ll stay, if not, well I don’t know. You’ll be in a lot of trouble either way if there are camera or voice recorders. But for now, yes I’m staying.”

I nodded as I finished with the flat sheet and draped the thick comforter over the bed. “Should I put you in the guest room or are you just going to end up in here anyway?” I turned to look at the blushing brunet as he stared at his feet, scratching idly at the back of his neck.

“I- I don’t know. I can go into the guest room if me sleeping with you makes you uncomfortable, but I don’t know if I’ll stay or if you’ll stay.”

“I thought you said that you mastered your powers.” I teased. He crossed his arms over his chest huffing at me in annoyance and indignation. “I do know how to control them… I just… I don’t know how to do that in my sleep. I can’t help it.”

I shook my head as I stared intently at Eren. I let out a deep sigh eventually though. “Just get in bed brat, before I change my mind, and stay on your side.” I crawled into the left side of my bed, pulling the covers up over me. I waited until Eren was situated behind me before turning my bedside light off. I laid there slowly drifting off when Eren spoke up.

“I don’t think I ever said thank you before so, thank you for helping me Levi.”

“You’re welcome. Now go to sleep.”

“Good night.” Eren whispered.

“Good night, Eren. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello peoples, please don't pelt me with fruit I know this took forever. Part of it was medical reasons and the other part was that electronics hate me. But no worries, I've slaughtered a few people to please whatever god I managed to piss off and now everything is right as rain. Now this was only supposed to be a handful of chapters, however I think this is going to be at least ten, but it's going to be much faster and shorter than TMoL. Anyway, that's it for now. Thank you for all the kudos and lovely comments, it makes me very happy. 
> 
> Until Next time, Pyxy out.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys I think this is the fastest I've ever update this fic *does a happy wiggle*. Anyway please go read.

“Eren I’-” I was walking through the door when I was damn near tackled by the overexcited brat who had been living with for the past month and a half.

“I know, I heard your car coming down the street.” Eren whispered in my ear, his arms still around my neck. I took a brief second to hug him back, as much as I loathe to admit it I had grown a bit of a fond attachment to the annoying brunette. But he didn’t let go, he nuzzled further into the side of my head squeezing me even tighter.

“Let go you shitty brat.” I started to struggle (though very weakly) in Eren’s embrace.

“No, I missed you.” Eren then went as far as to wrap his legs tightly around my waist, and I almost lurched forward at the sudden weight. But I didn’t complain too much, I knew that Eren was going a bit stir crazy, and I guess this is why he had multiple hideouts so he could still move around. With him staying with me though, and all his safe houses not so safe anymore all he could do was stay here in my well sized (but still too small to not be able to leave) apartment.

“I know, and you also know that if I start taking a whole bunch of leave that Smith will get suspicious.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t make it any easier having to sit in this place all day long, and the only human contact I have it with you when you’re home. But you’re gone when I wake up in the morning and always return late at night. I only spend time with you when it’s time to sleep.” I huffed but didn’t say anything else, instead I kicked off my shoes and set my briefcase on the kitchen table and shuffled to my (meaning mine and Eren’s since even when I put the little shit in the guest room he still ends up in bed with me so I’ve given up with trying to kick him out) room. I struggled out of my suit jacket since Eren still wasn’t willing to let go and tossed in on the bed for later.

“Have you already eaten?” it was almost ten and Eren knew how to cook easy meals (thanks to countless lessons on my part) so he should have, but as I heard his stomach rumble at the mention of eating I knew the answer. “Eren, when was the last time you ate? Did you eat at all today?”

“I keep forgetting that there’s food in the kitchen that I can just go and get, so sometimes I just don’t eat until my stomach starts to hurt to the point where I can no longer ignore it.” His tone was sheepish, but I was more concerned with the way Eren’s warm breath ghosting across my neck had me shuddering.

“And that doesn’t answer my question you shitty brat.” I growled into his ear. I needed to go sit down, Eren was starting to get heavy.

“Um… it might have been a few days…”

“Eren.” I snarled.

“Fine, it might have been five or six days.” He whimpered, obviously fearing my wrath, but considering he was the one with the powers and not me I don’t know what it is he had to fear; however I only released a tired sigh.

“Eren I’m sure you know what starvation is, are you trying to become malnourished? Are you trying to die on my watch?” I finally sat down on the couch in my moderately sized living room. The cushions molded around my frame and I almost made the mistake of letting out what could have sounded like a not very innocent moan.

“I can’t die from starvation, trust me.” Eren all of a sudden sounded so hollow that my heart clenched and I grimaced at the thought. I didn’t want to think about how he would know that but there was only one obvious answer.

“Get up, I’ll make us some food.” I pat him on his lower back, hoping he would finally move. He shifted off of me silently, and I stood, stretching out my sore muscles, and continued on to the kitchen where I went about making us a small dinner of hot sandwiches. We were just about done eating when Eren opened his mouth to speak but cut himself off so suddenly that his teeth clicked together. I looked up, my last few bites of sandwich halfway to my mouth. I slowly set my sandwich back down on the plate to wait for Eren to gather himself. It took a few minutes but eventually he spoke.

“So… do you think… that maybe I could maybe try and… contactmybestfreinds?” Eren clenched his eyes shut as if that would protect him from a blow that wasn’t going to come.

“You… want to contact some of your old associates?” Was I hearing right? He wants to try and contact his criminal friends.

“Okay. Who are they?” my voice sounded resigned.

“I mean I know tha… wait did you say okay?” he looked puzzled and it was one of his cutest faces.

“Yes. Now who are they? Please don’t tell me that I’m after them as well?” Eren looked at little guilty and I leaned back in my chair, crossing my arms over my chest and letting my head fall back against the back of the chair. It was going to be a long night.

“Who. Are. They?”

“Um, well I can’t really tell you their real names, if you want to know you’ll have to ask them if you ever meet them, but… their aliases are um… The Scarlet Raven and Feind des Geistes.” My eyes blew wide and my head snapped up to stare at Eren. Tell me he was joking, but as I looked across the table at him I knew that would be asking too much.

“Are you fucking kidding me? Those two number two and three on our priorities list, literally just below you. Because of course your best friends would be some of the most well-known criminals on this side of the country.” I groaned, but found that I wasn’t actually too upset, but I figured I would think about that later.

“How do you plan on getting a hold of them?” I inquired, no point in wasting time.

“Well, I’m telepathic and so is Feind des Geistes. He’s from Germany and that’s where he got his name, The Mind’s Enemy, is what is translates to.” Fuck. Of fucking course. Fucking brilliant.

Another deep breath, I would need a drink after this.

“Okay. Just hurry up, I want to go to bed.” Eren looked at me skeptically then and I glared.

“You’re taking this surprisingly well.” And all I could do was shrug.

“Are you going to do this or not?” I growled in irritation.

“Yes. Give me sec.” Eren got this far away look on his face just then, he started smiling though after a while, shaking his head or laughing quietly. I slowly started to become more and more concerned of his mental well-being when he snapped back.

“I got a hold of him. Is it okay if I bring them here for a short bit? Just so I can make sure they’re actually safe and whole. It’ll only be for a few minutes, please?” Eren clasped his hands tightly over his chest, as if my answer would make or break his world, but I guess it kind of would. And since I had agreed to everything else so far I did with this one too.

“Sure.” Eren cheered as he leapt across the table to hug me again, some of his strength seeping in and starting to crush my ribs. “I don’t heal like you do.” I reminded, just on the happen chance that he had forgotten.

“I know, I know sorry. Okay. So um… also, I’m aware of the fact that both of my friends will probably try and kill you so I’m giving you a bit of a heads up. Now I’ll have a physical barrier around you and while I’m not as good telepathy stuff like um my friend I’ll put up as much of a mental barrier as I can around you, but he’s a lot stronger than me when it comes to that. I suggest that even though you’ve never had to before you should at least try and put up some kind of mental shield around your thoughts. Especially any fears you have. I’m going to bring them here so prepare in that short amount of time. I’ll literally be right back.”

Eren stepped back, shaking himself out and taking a deep breath. I had no idea how to put any kind of mental wall up but if there was ever a time to learn it was now. He gave me a brief smile then disappeared, I got to the count of eight before he came back. As soon as he was back he threw his arms around a short boy around my height, who looked quite a bit like a girl, with a blond head of shoulder length hair. He looked rather unassuming with his beige jeans, that didn’t quite qualify as skinny with a white shirt and over-sized blue cardigan and a pair of white toms. Along with the boy there was a young woman who looked far more intimidating than either of her comrades. Everything she wore was black. The tight camisole covered by her leather jacket, her jeans which I could definitely tell were skinny jeans that were tucked into black combat boots that came almost to her knees. Her hair was obsidian and her eyes looked just as dark, the only color being her skin tone, only being a little tanner than mine and a crimson scarf wrapped around her throat.

“God it’s so good to see you guys. It’s been forever.” Eren cried, like he was literally crying, not too hard but there were silent tears streaming down his face and I made a move to comfort him.

Bad idea.

Both the boy and girl whipped around, giving me zero time to prepare. Eren yelled something along the lines of ‘don’t hurt him he’s a friend’ but I don’t think his friends were listening. There were red threads of _something_ shooting out of the girl, whose eyes were suddenly the same color as her scarf, and I took an instinctual step back. The boys on the other hand instead of his eyes being the cornflower blue I had seen before they were the exact shape and shade of my own.

The only thought going through my head was ‘ _mental barrier mental barrier mental barrier_ ’ a constant mantra going on a steady loop, but even then it still felt like I had something crawling through my head which quickly escalated into a throbbing pain. The threads that had shot towards me were stopped by an invisible force field, probably thanks to Eren who was in the background trying to get his friends to calm down. He had that extreme look of concentration on his face that he had earlier so I assumed he was communicating mentally with them. I could see that the boy’s eyes were starting to turn blue again so I hoped that he was listening to whatever Eren was… saying? thinking? Whatever.

Eventually the brat, the blond one, not my brat, relaxed, his eyes returning to normal and that feeling went away. I couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. And it appeared that the girl was giving up as well, seeing as how she couldn’t get past Eren. The threads disappeared as she whirled on Eren with a frustrated shout.

“Dammit Eren what are you doing?” she hissed.

“Protecting Levi, I told you two he was here and I told you not to attack him, both of you did so anyway. I should take you back.” Eren replied steadily. The blond mushroom at least had the decency to look thoroughly chastised, while the raven just looked even angrier. She didn’t open her mouth but it was obvious that she and Eren were conversing. Eventually she backed down, but not without grumbling.

Mushroom approached me, giving me a good once over, before he stuck his hand out with a sheepish smile.

“Hi I’m Armin, Armin Arlert. Nice to meet, and sorry for attacking you.” Armin says, his smile get bigger once I accept his handshake and apology.

“Nice to meet you Armin, though I think I like blonde mushroom better. Or maybe just mushroom? Mushroom cap? I’ll work on it.” I waved a dismissive hand, but Armin just looked confused, but as his eyes started to change color slightly I could feel the weird crawling sensation so I tried to put those mental walls that I don’t think I actually have up. However when it went away I either figured I’m better than I thought I was or that he was just done. Though looking at him rub at his eye in something that seems close to shock I’m leaning more towards the former.

“Nicknames?” he asked.

I nodded, “Yeah, something like that. Eren over there is brat.” I wasn’t going to tell him that the other one I had for him was bright eyes that was more affectionate and personal. I made sure to keep that wall up around my thoughts as much as possible. But since I couldn’t _feel_ said barrier it was hard knowing exactly what I was doing or if it was starting to fall. I would ask Eren about it later.

Armin stepped back over towards Eren, and whatever her name was. She was staring me down but I wasn’t fazed, and as long as she didn’t start using her powers I was confident I could keep face. Eventually after glancing back at Eren who gave her an encouraging nod she walked towards me. She stopped maybe a foot away and continued to stare. She stuck her hand out after a few minutes of staring and spoke quietly. “Mikasa Ackerman. You better be treating Eren right.” I snorted at her open hostility, I could see out of my periphery that Armin and Eren were just shaking their heads. Maybe this was a common occurrence with her and as good as I was going to get.

“Levi Ackerman, and you’d have to ask Eren whether or not he thinks I’m treating him right.” Mikasa walked back over to Eren but when she looked back at me her glare was less intense so I must have done something right. We continued to stand around in what had to have been one of the, if not the most, awkward silence I had ever had the displeasure of experiencing. I cleared my throat waiting for everyone’s attention to be on me before I spoke.

“I suggest we all go sit at the table, it would appear we have some things to discuss.”

“Yes, that sounds good.” Eren agreed, Armin and Mikasa nodding in assent.

I nodded once as well before walking into the kitchen. “I’m making some tea, would anyone else care for some?” I heard variations of ‘yes’ and brought out three other mugs. It was going to be a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So nothing new to report, at least not that I can think of right now. Well actually I made a [tumblr](http://snkpyxy.tumblr.com/) account (please help I have zero idea how to do anything). I'll be tracking this fic under catch me if you can fic and cmiyc fic. So now there's nothing new to report.  
> Anyway Pyxy out.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so so so sorry it has been so long since the last update but hopefully this long chapter will make up for it. Enjoy!

It had been a little more than two months since that night, and Mikasa and Armin had become frequent visitors to my apartment. Armin and I got along fine, but Mikasa had to threaten great bodily harm at least once every time she saw me, but I didn’t hold it against her, we had come to a mutual respect of sorts after I had almost shot her. I had taught Eren how to cook more, and he remembered that he could eat whenever he got hungry, and that meant cooking for his friends as well so I went through groceries twice as fast as before. Not that I was complaining or anything, Eren was all the happier for it. As a matter of fact, the first time we had kissed is when he was thanking me (again) for allowing him to see them. Usually it was just hugs, but he had gotten overly excited (or so he said) and had pressed his lips to mine in a rather painful clash of teeth. He had gotten so flustered that he locked himself in my bathroom and I didn’t see him for two days. It was a fond memory looking back on it. Except for when Mikasa somehow found out and was strangling me before Eren could stop her.

Our relationship had developed at a rather fast pace after that, Mikasa didn’t approve, obviously, but Armin is happy for us. I still had this little itch in the back of my mind telling me this is a bad idea. I mean, Eren is still a wanted criminal, I’m still supposed to be after him, my job is dangerous, Eren is still in danger as long as Smith is hunting him. There are so many things that could go wrong with this relationship, but not only is Eren happy with it, but I’m happy. I actually look forward to coming home now, it isn’t just my place to wallow when I’m not at this office which was almost never before Eren came along. Of course, happiness doesn’t last long, and when it fades, it’s often nothing but a bittersweet memory. That was proven when the commander called a briefing.

“Alright everyone, we have narrowed down a ten mile radius in this area,” Erwin had a map of the city behind him, and to my utter dismay, my community was inside the red outline of a circle, “of where we assume Velocity could be hiding. We’ll start at the edges and work our way in. Any questions?” I kept my questions to myself until everyone had asked small enquires detailing what everyone would be doing.

My heart was racing in my chest as I knocked on Erwin’s door. He called a brief come in so I opened the door then shut it behind me. “Ah, Levi, how can I help you?” he sounded so jovial, as if he wasn’t threatening to take my significant other from me, but he didn’t know that.

“I had some questions about Velocity.” I kept having to remind myself not to say his name.

“Okay? Ask away I suppose.” He leaned back in his chair, paper work forgotten on his desk.

I took a deep breath, trying futilely to calm my nerves. “I was wondering how you got that ten mile radius.”

“Oh, well I had been using the rookies to comb through the city. We started by the banks where we last saw Velocity and worked inwards. We found a few other abandoned warehouses, in that area, even a couple further in the older parts of Trost. But after that encounter his scent went cold so we just had to narrow it down.” I nodded as my brain tried to process everything he was saying and trying to think of something to say in return.

“So, why didn’t you tell me? I thought I was lead investigator on this?” both completely valid questions. Why didn’t the commander say anything to me, when I am in fact the lead investigator for finding and “capturing” Velocity? Erwin didn’t suspect anything does he?

“Honestly, you looked like you were ready to keel over so I handed the case over to Hanji for a bit, he’s the one who was able to narrow down the locations to that ten mile.” Hanji? As in my partner Hanji, had somehow managed to hold onto a secret for almost a year? Everyone had managed to avoid speaking about it to me for almost a year? Even other criminals for a year? Everything was far too suspicious, and it sent off several warning bells in my mind.

“Why didn’t I hear about it? He doesn’t know how not to talk about it, or anyone else for that matter. I haven’t heard anything in several months. I figured that we were all taking a break from the case seeing as how we weren’t getting anywhere with it at the moment.” Erwin just gives a non-committal shrug, and all those warning bells turn into high pitched shrieks. There’s something really very not right about this.

So I decided to test out what Eren has been teaching me, I called out for him mentally. Since I wasn’t a telepath I couldn’t project my thoughts like him or Armin could, so I hope he was listening right now.

“Well, since we have a general location of where he is, am I in charge of this again or will Hanji continue to do my work for me?”

“No, you’ll be put back at the forefront of this, and Hanji will be your second, he’s very good at tactical thinking once he’s focused on a goal. It’s almost scary just how brilliant he is.” I let out a snort, I already knew this after all. I nodded to Erwin, thanking him for his time, and promptly left the office. Still mentally shouting into the void apparently seeing as how Eren still hadn’t responded. So I changed tactic. Eren had said that Armin was far more powerful than he was on that front, so I called out for him instead. It took only a few tries before he heard me and I breathed a sigh of relief.

 _‘Levi? How did you do that? Are you okay? What’s wrong?’_ it was weird how I could almost see Armin in my head as he spoke but I figured that I was either imagining things or that it was just how his powers functioned.

‘Armin, have you heard from Eren? I have a bad feeling and I just want to make sure he’s safe. He won’t answer me.’

I was at my desk, idly flipping through paper work as I spoke with Armin. I couldn’t quite focus on reading through any of the current reports on my desk when speaking with someone telepathically so I figured it would be best to at least look busy.

_‘Ah, well he’s sleeping, said he wasn’t feeling well or something. He’s been in your room in bed almost since he brought Mikasa and I here. Now how did you do that?’_

My brow scrunched up as I thought about what he was asking, but, what is it that I did? ‘What did I do? What are you talking about?’

I could almost hear him sigh in exasperation. _‘You were projecting, Levi. Like a telepath would. I would have had to be tuned in to hear you, and I wasn’t, but I heard you anyway. You projected your thoughts. How did you do that? I thought you didn’t have powers? I mean, everyone is capable of very low level telepathy. That itch you sometime get on the back of your head or neck is someone thinking about you and projecting without even realizing, but you, you were loud. It was as if you were shouting in my ear, I don’t know how Eren could have slept through that.’_

I’m not sure if saying something like “I’m speechless” would work since I wasn’t really talking in the first place, but if I had been then that phrase would fit perfectly. What do I even say to that, what do I even think to that. “Oh that’s great news, can you teach me how to control this new power I have?” No I don’t think that would work.

‘We’ll talk about it when I get home… actually, wake Eren up and leave. I have a feeling and I’d rather be safe than sorry. I’ll call you when I get there.’

 _‘Why, what’s wrong? Did something happen?’_ he sounded worried and the last thing I needed was for him to lose his head, though he doesn’t seem like the type.

‘I’ll explain when I get home, I have to focus on work right now. Just get Eren out of my apartment and all of you get somewhere safe. Please?’

The mental image of Armin nodding his head, along with the _‘Of course’_ ran through my mind. I sighed in relief, cutting off communication with Armin. Was it too much to ask for a break?

I rushed through my paper work so I could finish early, and head home sooner. It paid off when I completed my work load before Hanji. He laughed, asking in a very inappropriate manner if I had someone waiting for me at home. My stomach clenched uncomfortably as I responded with a short and clipped no. I got home, walking into my apartment and immediately going to take a shower. All the worrying I had done earlier had caused me to sweat a great deal, and I needed to get clean as soon as possible. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone.

I called Eren again. ‘Eren, can you hear me?’ this time I got a response almost instantly.

_‘Ow, no need to yell. I can hear you just fine. Are you okay? What’s wrong?’_

‘Nothing is wrong, you can come back now, just be sure to short circuit any new bugs when you get back.’ I finished my shower, being sure to have clothes on when I walked into the living room. I found Mikasa and Armin on the couch and Eren in the fridge.

“Ah, Levi come sit. I want to speak with you.” Armin spoke up from the couch, patting the seat next to him. I walked over hesitantly, not sure I was ready to have this particular conversation yet. I lowered myself into the chair to the right of the couch, getting comfy before turning my focus to the mushroom.

“Hey Eren come here. We need to talk.” Armin called. We heard a rustling, but it ended as the fridge shut and the sound of padding feet came closer. Eren dropped down into my lap, sitting sideways so his legs draped over the arm of the chair and he could rest his head on my shoulder.

“So what’s up?” Eren inquired, snuggling his face into the crook of my shoulder.

“I think Levi has powers, but if he does then they’re only just now developing. However if he’s already strong enough to project his thoughts at such a volume then by the time his powers finishing developing, well, I might have just met my match. So I have an idea on how to test this theory of mine. Mikasa doesn’t have an inkling of telepathy in her whole body, like not even that small piece that most people have. So I want to see if either she can hear you or you can hear her, or both. We’ll just see if she can hear you first, that’s easier. Then we’ll see if you can hear her. Just call her name.” this was still too much to process in this short of a time span, but I decided I could think over it later when everyone else was asleep, since Armin and Mikasa often share the guest room when they don’t feel like leaving.

I looked over at Mikasa who blankly stared back at me. So I called out to her, trying to understand how I was supposed to project something when I couldn’t feel it. Regardless, she heard me loud and clear, covering her ears and dropping to her knees letting out a startled cry, the sound a mix of surprise and pain.

Armin rushed to her, covering her ears with his own hands and going into her head to soothe some of the pain I had inadvertently caused, how I even knew that though was beyond me so I tried not to dwell on it. Eren stood by me running his hand over my back, looking on at Mikasa worriedly. Once she had collected herself she stood and glared at me. If looks could kill I would have been six feet under in that very instant.

“I’ll kill you, I will slowly peel your skin from your bones!” she roared, lunging towards me, being stopped by what I’m assuming is Eren’s powers.

“Mikasa, you know he didn’t do that on purpose, it was an accident, don’t be mad at him that he can’t control his powers yet. I remember how you poor your skills were when we first met, despite you having lived twice as long as me.” Eren said, his brows furrowed in irritation. Mine however, shot up into my hairline, Eren looked to be about twenty, Mikasa couldn’t be forty. So how old were they when they met? Eren wasn’t on the streets until he was fourteen, so even if they had met then… Mikasa couldn’t have been almost thirty.

“How old are you Eren?” I turned to look at him. Now that I think about it, they never gave us an exact age, they just told us his general background, and nobody ever thought to ask.

“Huh? Oh I’m…. actually I think I’m almost forty. I know what day I was born, but I’m not quite sure what year, time passes differently on the streets.” He shrugged. He’s as old, if not older than, I am and it kinda made my head spin. Sure if I didn’t have dark circles under my eyes and have such a “frowny face” as Hanji put it, I could easily pass for mid to late twenties, but Eren doesn’t even look like he could be out of high school yet.

“So that would make us about the same age. We would have been… how had I never heard of you before I joined the force?” I asked quietly. By that math we would have both been on the street at the same time, it wasn’t until I was almost twenty that I found a stable job and started working. Another three years until I went into nursing, four years of schooling and then actually working for only a year, and then I’d been on the force maybe five or six years. There were almost five years in which I should have heard of him if what he was saying was correct.

“Well at first I just kept my head down, didn’t make waves. It wasn’t until about maybe seven or eight years ago that I started, robbing. When Mikasa, Armin, and I had an excess of food, or blankets we would give them to the children we encountered. Soon it became common knowledge that if you were under the age of fifteen we wouldn’t turn you away if you needed help and if you were older we would help you find legal work, and if you were under ten then you were allowed to stay at the safe houses that we bought under aliases, the three of us obviously wouldn’t stay there since we are criminals and would put them at risk, so we had other people who made it off the streets that we trusted, mostly the kids that we helped all those years ago would volunteer to help the younger children at the houses. I think over the years we’ve helped around one thousand kids.”

“But of course the only thing the police were focused on was that we were stealing, they probably didn’t even know about the kids we were helping, or if they did they didn’t care.” Mikasa added bitterly, Armin nodding solemnly behind her. And they were right, I never even knew that they helped kids get off the streets. We stood around, all lost in our thoughts until Armin stoke up.

“Alright, so let’s see how good you are at reading thoughts. I think we’ve subjected Mikasa to enough so we’ll see how you fair against me. I’ll keep my barriers up and just leave that one thought out, but I’m still rather hard to crack. I’ll say a word or phrase and keep it at the forefront of my mind, you have to see what it is I’m thinking. Anytime you’re ready.” I kept eye contact with him, I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to see what he was thinking but I figured that visualizing it would be easier. So I imagines Armin’s mind as a sphere of water and my own thoughts as myself. Not the best analogy I could have come up with but it would suffice. So I entered into the sphere to look around and found that maybe my analogy wasn’t so far off. I could feel his mind and the way wrapped around my own mind, like being submerged under water. I sifted through his thoughts, looking for the answer. He didn’t say what it was he would be thinking just that it would be at the forefront, but the longer I looked the angrier I got. I could see his thoughts surrounding me, I could read all of them, but I couldn’t find exactly what he was thinking of.

I pulled back into myself, and stumbled backwards at the sudden lightheadedness that overcame me, but thankfully Eren was there to steady me. “Fuck…” I panted out.

“I hope that for all the pain you just caused you know what I was thinking.” Armin muttered tersely, rubbing at his temples. I started to shake my head but quickly discovered that was a bad idea, instead voicing my thoughts. “No, everything was jumbled. I couldn’t sort through everything to find what specifically you were thinking.”

“Wait, you saw… everything? Not just the phrase that… you broke through my barriers, all of them?” the last part was said in a disbelieving whisper.

“I don’t know, it was like being submerged in word soup or whatever. Your thoughts were floating all over the place and I was trying to find just one word but instead I got everything and the harder I looked the more words that appeared.” Armin, Mikasa, and Eren all shared a look. I could tell they were conversing but I didn’t know what was being said, or how I even knew they were speaking in the first place.

“I… I think you might be a little more powerful than we thought.” Armin concluded. All I could think was ‘well no shit Sherlock.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, so it's been awhile, please no pelting me with produce. I have excuses for days about my slow output rate on chapters for all my multi-chapter fics, but they aren't going to do anything except take up even more characters left for this box. I'm sorry to say that I can't give even a guestimation for the next chapter of this. Also, I'm thinking maybe four or five more chapters for this, so halfway point. I would like to thank everyone for sticking around this long. See you next time, Pyxy out.  
> My [tumblr](http://snkpyxy.tumblr.com/)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOT AN UPDATE!

So hello, everyone. I apologize for the long wait, but unfortunately I will be going on hiatus. I just recently got out of a two week stay in the hospital, and the only reason I'm even home right now is because my doctors determined that there was nothing else they could do for me there (nice right?). I have been unable to write due to being heavily medicated, which I still am and can't concentrate long enough to get a chapter out. Only made worse by the writer's block that I have seemed to have developed. There are other more personal reasons for the hiatus as well, but I don't think we need to read my sob story, though if you have questions feel free to ask. I don't know when I'll be back so I wont even bother giving you an estimate, just not any time soon I suspect. I really do hate to have to do this, but I figured everyone deserved to know that I wont be posting any time soon, for any of my currently ongoing fics, that includes, _Second Chance at Happiness_  and _The Meaning of Life_. If I manage to post something for either of my shorter fics being, _Second Chance at Happiness_ or _Catch Me if You Can_ , that doesn't mean the hiatus for any of my fics is over, since I'm already mostly finished for the second chapter of SCaH and the sixth chapter of CMiYC. I hope that you guys understand and will be patient with me. 

Pyxy out.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey peeps, long time no see. I am back from hiatus on this fic. As far as updates go though, they've always been irregular and they will stay irregular, but have no fear, this WILL be updated soon. Also we're down to the wire here, like maybe four chapters left, possibly five if I have to stretch some scenes out, but we're more than halfway done here. So have fun with this chapter.

In the following weeks we slowly honed my skills. Singling out one or two thoughts without breaching any barriers was more difficult than expected, and it was a literal headache for everyone involved. I learned though, and that was the important part, and I learned how to do it without it being painful. Mikasa, Armin, and Eren all said they could barely feel it when I went into their minds. I can also communicate with them now as well, at a distance of across the country, except for Mikasa.

After my abilities were up to everyone’s standards, Armin said he wanted to test out whether or not I could get into Smith’s head. Apparently on the few occasions that Eren had gotten close enough he hadn’t been able to. Smith supposedly had impenetrable barriers, Eren said it was reminiscent of running into a brick wall, and Armin had never been able to get close enough. Eren blamed it on the fact that his telepathy wasn’t as strong as mine or Armin’s, not that anyone blamed him for failing, aside from maybe Mikasa who sent Eren a wayward look.

So that Monday when I went in for work I planned on testing out Smith’s defenses. I waited until no one was in his office, before taking a few deep breathes to steady myself and knocking of his office door. Erwin’s “come in” was heard and I stepped into his office, shutting the door behind me.

“Ah, Levi, what can I help you with?” _Shit…_ I hadn’t even thought of that, this is falling apart, I should just leave, but… then an idea came.

“Um, I was wondering about, Velocity’s background. I had a thought, but I only have the bare minimum of facts on him before he started stealing. Do we have a more in-depth profile on him?” I took the chance to start digging while Erwin was silent, and hopefully thinking. On the surface he was suspicious on why I would need that information, but I pushed all of that aside as I went deeper and encountered a barriers but I breached that one without difficulty. What I saw behind it though was astonishing. It was almost like a filing system, everything was organized into different topics ranging in importance. I found one that I figured would have the information that I needed but there was _another_ barrier around this one. No matter how hard I pushed against it, it wouldn’t budge, but I still had plenty of room left in my abilities so I added more fuel to the fire as I pushed at it again. Still nothing so I let my full power loose and rammed the barrier, but it still didn't break. And then I was angry and tearing at the barrier in an animalistic frenzy, spider web cracks appeared in the invisible shield and I pushed harder and harder until it shattered.

What I found though was enough to make my blood run cold, everything made perfect sense now, and it knowing was terrifying. What was that old saying? Don’t ask questions if you don’t really want the answers? But I did want the answers, and now that I had them I don’t want them, not at all.

I pulled out of Erwin’s mind with a gasp, but he was slumped over. My head was pounding and I knew I had to get out of here, before he came to. I quickly closed his blinds, took his phone off the base so anyone who called would think he was busy, patted him down quickly to find his phone, turned that off and hid it in one of his drawers before finally making my escape. I checked to make sure no one was in the immediate vicinity, and walked out calmly, closing the door quietly. I went over to my desk gathered my things, told Hanji I was going to follow a lead. He asked if I thought I needed backup, and I had to pause at that.

When I first met Eren he said he was going to approach him, said that he would most likely help. So I said yes. We got into my car and drove to my apartment. Hanji asked why and I told him I needed to grab something quickly, I then invited him in to wait since it would take a minute. Since I very rarely, if ever, invite Hanji in he was happy to come in. I took my keys out and unlocked the door, hoping that this wasn’t a bad idea.

When we entered there was no one in the living room, so I left Hanji there and went into my room, where I found Eren and the others. Mikasa was the first one to speak.

“Who did you bring here? You know that if someone sees us it’s over for everyone?” she hissed quietly

“It’s one of my coworkers.” My voice just a quiet as Mikasa’s had been.

“You brought a _cop_ here?! Without any warning whatsoever? What the fuck are you thinking? Never mind you’re obviously _not_ thinking!”

“Would you shut up and listen.” I said, sending her a glare before my eyes darted to Armin who looked as calm as a cucumber, then to Eren whose gaze I held. “I brought Hanji. I…”, I looked down, sighing before I looked up again, “I fucked up guys. I went to talk to Erwin, see if I could get past the barrier and I did, but-”

There was a crash in the living room quickly followed by Hanji’s shouted apology and the sound of his footsteps down the short hallway. Eren’s eyes widened and I cursed softly under my breath, turning in time to see Hanji open the door, his mouth open like he was going to say something but doesn’t.

His gaze flickers from my face, to Eren’s, Mikasa’s, then Armin’s. Hanji’s mouth closes, he blinks owlishly a few times his face becoming almost as expressionless as mine in a way I recognize as this situation going from bad to worse, then his gaze focuses on me again, before saying, very slowly like he has to spell it out for me, “Levi, do you realize whose standing in your bedroom right now?”

“Yes.” I answer plainly. Hanji nods his head twice, opening his mouth again to speak. “Good, okay. You have exactly five minutes to explain before I call for backup. Start talking.” So I quickly launch into an explanation, starting with me first meeting Eren and hitting all the main points since then, ending with what happened in Erwin’s office today. Hanji nodded again, breathed out slowly, then because Hanji is Hanji he exclaimed excitedly “Levi this is so exciting! You have powers! Oh oh what am I thinking?”

I shook my head, but chuckled regardless. This was Hanji after all, I didn’t know why I’m surprised. I spared a brief glance to the band of supposed villains in my room to see Armin looking, just as calm as before, Eren was smiling a little and winked when he caught my gaze, but Mikasa’s expression was priceless with the look of befuddlement that was on her face.

However since Hanji was so agreeable I decided to humor him, only to recoil when I finally got what he was thinking. “Ew, Hanji what the fuck! What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Hanji cackled in that careless and obnoxious way that only he could. Hunching over to use one hand to clutch at his stomach and the other to cling to the door frame to keep from falling over, though that was a near thing. I scowled and rolled my eyes, quickly dismissing him as I turned to the other three standing in my room gawking at the idiot in the doorway.

“We need a game plan, and we need one quick. Armin I’m going to assume you have one already.” I said, flicking my gaze to look at him.

“I do, I didn’t plan on having to do this yet, of course. But it still works right now, and it’s better since we have Hanji.”

“Oh, I get to be part of your plans? Yes!” He hopped around for a bit before focusing his full, intense attention on Armin. Mikasa still looked unsure but stayed quiet and Eren came to stand beside me, lacing his fingers with mine. I didn’t know if it was okay for Hanji to know about our relationship, which is why I didn’t say anything about it when I was giving him the rundown of the situation, but if Eren was okay with exposing it then I suppose I was fine too.

“Well, I need you to call the station, tell them that all four of us are here, that we tried to convince you to join us, that you need back up immediately. We,” Armin said, gesturing to himself, Mikasa, Eren, and I, “are to stay here long enough for them to see us. We’ll be out front, you’ll have me hostage, so to speak, and Levi will be neutral- ish. He’ll be switching between point his gun at all of us. Then as soon as enough of them get here, Eren will charge you, I’ll escape, the four of us will scatter out of sight, then Eren will teleport us to _my_ safe house. We’ll keep contact with you. And we need to do this now, you two have already been gone too long.”

“Eren while Hanji reports in, gather a bag of everything you and Levi thinks we need, Mikasa and I will be at the door waiting. Okay?” he looked at all of us, making sure we understood.

“Alright, let’s get this over with.” That was Mikasa, of course, ever the enthusiast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if any of you would like an explanation for my hiatus, jump over to my latest update of The Meaning of Life, and for those of you who read that one as well, you'll see it there when you read it if you haven't already. Until next time. Pyxy out!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, hope you like this. I post sneak peaks for all my works on my [tumblr](http://pyxyystyxx.tumblr.com/), even if i don't post much else on there.


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